, the meaning of equality is simple: It’s when everyone has the right to exist freely.
And on the occasion of Gay Pride month — which is every June, but particularly special this year, as it marks 50 years since the Stonewall uprising, which kicked off the official LGBTQ-rights movement — Jennings has a message: “Now more than ever, we need to continue to use our voices to create positive change, to show that we exist, we’re here, and that we deserve to exist freely.
With passion so strong it makes her voice shake, Jennings says, “We’re not going to stop fighting for our rights until all people are able to be their true authentic selves without being judged, without the murder, without the violence.” Since 2015, an average of 24 transgender women, mostly women of color, , according to the Human Rights Campaign; already, in 2019, 10 transgender women have died.
“It’s just sad that we live in a world where people are being killed just for being who they are,” Jennings says, recalling the many times that she didn’t feel comfortable in her own skin, and that she didn’t have the right to be confident in who she was. “Over time, I’ve learned that I am beautiful, my skin is me, this is who I am.”
To celebrate her life-long journey towards embracing the skin she’s in, Jennings recently teamed up with